Coming to America (1988)

20Oct08

Coming to America IMDB Link

Directed By: John Landis

Written By: David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall

I remember nerding out with an actor on set about our favorite director’s. I felt like we exhausted the history of cinema but as he was driving away he hit the breaks and yelled out, “we forgot to talk about John Landis!”

And yeah, John Landis is an often forgotten great American director. When I said Michael Shultz made the movies people love, well he was the B-movie version of John Landis. The man made in a row, The Kentucky Friend Movie, Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London , Trading Places and Thriller the music video. And if that wasn’t enough he later directed Coming to America and Three Amigos. Chances are you know someone out there who would squeal “I love that movie!” at the mention of any of those, heck maybe all of them.

I guess the reason he is forgotten is the fact that he made comedies and comedies aren’t taken very seriously. But he had his trademarks. He would use certain soundtracks over again, often break the 4th wall with actors looking at the camera with a raised eyebrow and had outrageous action sequences. His most recognizable schtick is featuring the phrase “See you next Wednesday” from 2001: A Space Odyssey as a homage.

Coming to America was one of the first comedies where all sorts of people with different tastes were telling me to see it. The thing is, I saw it as a kid on public TV but there’s no way it could have done it justice so I had to re-up and watch the shit again in full swearing, bare breasted glory.

It’s kinda sad to watch Coming to America now knowing where Eddie Murphy’s career ended (a stinking pile of shit). This guy used to be the king, everything he touched was not only hilarious but gold and then his wife pooped out a kid, he got rich and stopped being funny. It’s his life that makes me happy Chapelle didn’t take that big cash deal from Comedy Central because now there’s a chance Chapelle might stay funny.

Eddie Murphy actually came up with the story for the movie and this is a phenomenon that I completely do not understand. Why comedians do movies written by someone else is beyond me. I remember Chapelle being on “The Daily Show” and they actually got serious for a moment. Chappelle told Stewart that if someone saw Stewart’s act, knew his philosophy on things, and his personality then “The Daily Show” is really the only way to go and that’s why it’s successful. It’s the same reason Chapelle’s show was successful, because it was his type of humor. You don’t try and fit someone into something they aren’t. Best example of that was the Tracey Morgan show. Why are we watching a family comedy with Tracey Morgan? Oh yeah, all those “don’t you hate it when your kid…” jokes Tracey loves to tell. And then when it bombs I can imagine the producers being confused, “U meen dey dun liek to see Tracey have diaper troublez???”

Comedians should write their own shit more often, or at least work with a writer. Sure the writer could help them with the structure and character development but the comedian’s name is on the line and I don’t know why they risk their comedic stock so to speak on some random chuck’s script. It really baffles me.

But back on the topic of Coming to America. I mean what’s there to say. Everyone and their mama has seen the flick and it’s great stuff.

Filed under: Classic/Old, Comedy   |  1 Comment
Tags: Coming to America, Dave Chapelle, Eddie Murphy, movie review